Culture

Steam’s Popular Portal Knights Channels Minecraft And Zelda, Comes Up Short

If you want, you can tunnel all the way to the center of Portal Knights’ floating island world. There’s just one problem: it’s hollow. Portal Knights hit Steam Early Access yesterday, and it’s been in the top ten best sellers ever since. If you find yourself thinking, “Gee, that sure reminds me of Minecraft, Terraria,…

‘James Is An Ass’: Gabe Newell Explains Why Valve Fired Dota 2 Commentator [Update]

This week’s $3 million DOTA 2 Shanghai major has been a bit of a disaster. Streams dropping, cameras getting stuck, awkward or non-existent commentary, dead air—it’s been a comedy of errors. On the back of it all, Valve let go of one commentator, James Harding, to a storm of backlash Harding has a reputation for…

Obliteracers Manages 16-Player Local Kart Racing

Obliteracers is an over-the-top kart racer (think Mario Kart meets Twisted Metal) that lets you play against 16 people. In the same room. It’s a recipe for unbridled havoc, and Obliteracers’ developers know it. If you want to, you can control the game with gamepads, laptops, keyboards, and even smart phones. Whatever you need to…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

As we begin the march into March, it’s time to take a couple days off and play some games. What will you be playing this weekend? I’ll go first: I finished Superhot but still want to make more progress in the various challenge modes, so I’ll probably play some more of that. Mostly, however, I’m…

Track: The Glade | Artist: Alexander Brandon & HyperDuck SoundWorks | Album: Dust: An Elysian Tail – Original Soundtrack Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Heya Fran, Been A While

James Strehle is an artist currently working at VOLTA, a studio whose members we’ve showcased here on Fine Art a bunch of times You can see more of James’ work at his personal site and ArtStation page, while you can check out his Patreon page here To see the larger pics in all their glory…

Remember Punch Club, the game about managing a starving kickboxer? It’s getting a free expansion. It’ll be about three hours long. The plot sounds great. “New storyline where you find a suitcase that pinpoints crimes in the city. Only logical thing to do is put on a mask and start fighting crime.” Truth.

Giant Cat Eats Caveman Dick

Today on Highlight Reel we have savage prehistoric cats, close street fighter calls, quiet meetings between muscular men, killer streaks, and much more! Watch the video above or on our Youtube page, then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the…

Modder Is Trying To Make XCOM 2‘s Snake Ladies Sexier

I suppose this was inevitable. Somewhat notoriously, XCOM 2 has snake lady enemies called Vipers. They’re alien snake monsters with boobs, which of course flies in the face of hella biology, but whatever. Aliens. They don’t play by our silly, boob-less rules, apparently. Maybe they store venom in there. Or maybe Firaxis didn’t take time…

Valve Is Making Counter-Strike Look Better

After a lengthy update drought, Valve is suddenly lobbing Counter-Strike news like a first-time player haphazardly tossing grenades. First there was the new Nuke (Newke) and Operation, then $1 million CSGO majors, and now new graphical effects. Valve has introduced a whole host of new lighting and shader effects to CSGO (the nitty gritty elements…

Podcast: Kirk’s Only Friends Are Fire Emblem Characters

“It’s not sad if it’s anime,” Kirk says on this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, explaining his love for Fire Emblem characters. OK, Kirk. On today’s show, we take a deep dive into Fire Emblem Fates and all of the waifus it has to offer. We also talk about Final Fantasy XIV, Destiny 2, and…

The Rarest World of Warcraft Items

In an MMO like World of Warcraft, which is basically about collecting items and gear, the rarest, still obtainable ones are in legendary status. And they’re not just rare: they’re rare for various interesting reasons. It’s worth noting that there are quite a few items that are no longer available. Some were removed due to…

Track: Take On Me | Artist: Ninja Sex Party & Tupper Ware Remix Party | Album: Under the Covers Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

The Steam Controller has rumble functionality now… kinda. A new beta update adds “experimental rumble emulation,” which reproduces the feel of rumble despite the fact that Steam Controller’s haptic tech is “a very different technology than rumble motors.”

Wait, That’s Not How I Remember The Battle Of Hoth…

Stepan Alekseev is an artist working in the video game business who we last saw killing it in the Star Wars: Reimagined contest You can see more of Stepan’s work at his ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper),…

A Survival Game Based On Actual Survival Techniques

The Flame in the Flood is a survival game that just launched on Steam. It’s not about building, or zombies, or pranking your friends. Just surviving and seeking civilization. That makes sense, given its background. The Flame in the Flood may not strike you as the most realistic-looking game around, but it started from a…

Cerys! You’re Real!

As I’ve made clear, I am very fond of Cerys, the takes-no-shit Queen (in my game) of Skellige. Thus, I am also quite fond of any cosplay paying tribute to this badass. This is Niamash, not only with a perfect costume but an actual horse just to top things off. Photos by Catherine Badulina

Dishonored’s Seedier Side Brought To Life Through Cosplay

We’ve seen some top-shelf Dishonored cosplay on this site before, but it—and most other cosplay like it—tends to focus on the game’s main characters. People with expensive uniforms and high collars. Nobody ever spares a thought for the game’s less upstanding denizens. Ophidia and her friend Rin have, though, putting together this fantastic shoot with…

Popular Driving Game OutDrive Just Isn’t Very Good

OutDrive has spent the past couple days near the top of Steam’s popular new releases section, and it only costs a few dollars. What could possibly go wrong? OutDrive is a neon-drenched—or drowned, really—endless driver. Billed as an “aesthetic experiment” with a focus on experiencing music, it looks very nice and sounds even nicer. Unfortunately,…

Track: Astroboy feat. Honey-B & W-Trouble | Artist: FEMM | Album: PoW! / L.C.S. ＋Femm-Isation Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.